Black Masquerade
by Rain Sky
Summary: The Daddy Challenge. OiSM-compliant. Ted Tonks reviews his life from June 1977 to April 1988, how by doing one good deed, he signed his life over to be a marionette in the Black masquerade. One-shot.


Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling and I do not own Harry Potter. This is "Only in Sweet Memories"-compliant. Characterisation is fair with information given in the fifth book; however, the story and characterisation may differ afterwards.

A/N: I must really feel stuck in OiSM... The problem I get is that I map out a really long story, but because I already know what happens, I feel less motivated to write... Anyway, this is just another scene that I refuse to awkwardly shoehorn into OiSM, but it really does belong there.

A/N: This is also Writing Challenge #37 – The Daddy Challenge from the forum Bellatrix Lestrange: The Dark Lord's Most Faithful.

_April 1988_

My wife has barricaded herself in her room again. She always does, whenever she's upset. Sometimes, it's over something I can understand. Other times, I have no idea what sets her off.

I don't know what she does in there. She wards the room without fail. If she cries, there is no proof of it on her face when she surfaces again. If she throws a magical tantrum, everything is neatly fixed and put back in place.

Her daughter rests in my lap. It's her tenth birthday today, and her birthday was not going well. Her hair is still a resolute lilac colour; she is determined that her mother will eventually join us for festivities. It isn't every day that you are turn double-digits.

I suspect it's because of 1971, the year after the Dark Lord started gaining momentum. The Ministry approved for early enrolment for students of magical descent. My wife was one of those approved a year early, at the age of ten.

Her younger sister was approved early as well. She was only nine, and she was very little. They joined their eldest sister and their cousin in their first year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

They were proud and arrogant and bigoted. My wife and her younger sister were in Ravenclaw, their sister was a Slytherin, and their cousin was a Gryffindor. Nonetheless, they stuck together like flies on honey and stormed the school. They were beautiful and pureblood and filthy rich, and apparently that gave them the right to do whatever they wanted. Unfortunately, they were also highly talented. The Slytherin sister was supposedly the best, and she was definitely vicious as a Beater in her later years despite her prissy appearance. She got twelve OWLs at the end of her fifth year – first person to do so since Dumbledore – eleven of them were Outstanding. What's the matter, Cissa? Can't look into a crystal ball and make up shit? (Andromeda later explained that her parents had the same reaction – they rebuked her for failing to get twelve unanimous Outstanding OWLs.) But the Ravenclaw sister and the Gryffindor cousin were the lightest on their feet. It was one of my earliest public humiliations to be hexed so thoroughly by two first-years while I was a second-year.

They continued that way until the very end of my final year. Andromeda forced her way over to me one day in mid-June in such a rage that I thought her head may have been on fire. She carelessly tossed a stinging hex at my friend (a nice pureblood) Kimberly Prewett before grabbing my arm and declaring that we "needed to talk".

That was the first time I saw Andromeda Black vulnerable. She said that we both had problems, and that we were the solutions to the other's problems. She told me about how when she was eleven and returned home after her first-year that her father had had some midlife crisis and started raping her as if to indignantly assert his youth. Bellatrix escaped that fate because she was lucky enough to be born with black hair. Narcissa escaped that fate because her mother beat thousands of scars into her back since she was three.

Proud, haughty Andromeda Black was begging me to marry her. After seeing the attention her sister got for her engagement to Lucius Malfoy, Andromeda described how she foolishly begged her mother for a pureblood arranged marriage to boy of exotic descent. Her mother gave it to her, pleased. But then she heard that boy Rodolphus Lestrange talking to another friend about a letter his father had written him concerning Andromeda's father, and she realised that the abuse would never end – he would just drop by and "visit" for a few hours.

Andromeda confessed how she had then tried to seduce her sister's fiancé; she hated how even though Narcissa was "off the market" that she was still the crowd favourite. Whatever you could say about Lucius Malfoy, it seems he was truly dedicated to Narcissa. The sisters supposedly had a huge row, but I have it on good authority that Andromeda did most of the yelling while Narcissa did most of the crying.

And then she said she had a revelation: that the only way to get her father to stay away from her was to marry a Mudblood.

"Why me?" I had asked.

And she had answered, "Because I've heard rumours about you. Your parents want you to marry a nice girl and start a family, don't they? Muggles seem to get all riled up about any non-heterosexual relationship." There was still disdain in her voice, but then she became humble again. "Ted, I will be the ideal wife for you. I have an affinity for household spells. I will protect your parents well with my talents. I won't demand you to be faithful; I'll let you go out and sleep with a different man every night if you wish! Please!"

The girl who'd bullied me for six years for my dirty blood desperately needed to marry me because of that same dirty blood. I wanted to be able to say no, but how could I? If I'd refused, a young girl would continue to be abused at the hands of the man who was supposed to protect her.

After graduation, Andromeda and I got married. My mother was disappointed that there was no wedding to plan; we'd simply signed a few documents. I couldn't help that; in the wizarding world one only had to be fifteen to get married. Andromeda's worldly possessions were already stealthily moved into my parents' home.

The effect was immediate. She was blasted off the family tree and her sisters refused to speak to her. Her cousins were mostly curious, although they seemed distant too. A little while after, Andromeda learned she was pregnant and we thought everything was smooth.

But then there was an announcement in the _Daily Prophet_: Rodolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Black were now betrothed. Andromeda spent the entire day worshipping the porcelain throne. I'm certain it wasn't because of the baby. She choked through her tears about how she hadn't meant for that to happen. I didn't really understand at that time, but the next month Sirius Black was also disowned.

Andromeda didn't return to school in September, and the following April, Nymphadora was born. Andromeda wailed upon seeing her daughter's face, and even today she struggles not to flinch when looking at her. I think Nymphadora suspects that Andromeda is uncomfortable with her – she's a really smart girl and I hope she inherited her mother's brains.

In summer 1978, Bellatrix and Rodolphus were wed. We weren't invited of course, but Narcissa generously allowed us to visit her memory of the wedding in her Pensieve. It was a dull, muted wedding; Bellatrix clearly wanted no part of it. Sirius was in attendance; his aunt and uncle both had wands pointed at his unconscious form. After we'd seen the wedding, Narcissa threw us out of her beautiful Wiltshire home. I suspect Andromeda also wanted to see her elder sister's wedding too – that would truly have been a joyous affair – but she just obediently tugged on my hand to leave, and she locked herself in that room when she got back.

In autumn of 1979, Regulus Black vanished. He was Andromeda's age, but he was always closest to Narcissa; they seemed to have a lot of the same talents, and he even replaced her as Seeker in his second year, setting her on the path of a Beater. By lottery, he was a year after his brother and cousins in school.

In June of 1980, there was a birth announcement of Andromeda's nephew Draco Malfoy. She just dully stared at the boy's name in the paper as I chased after her very spirited daughter.

The day after Halloween of 1981, everyone in the wizarding world was either mourning the deaths of Lily and James Potter or celebrating the fall of the Dark Lord or both. But my wife's cousin Sirius was thrown into Azkaban; apparently he had betrayed his best friends to the Dark Lord and then killed a street full of Muggles. Andromeda quietly told me that after Sirius and Bellatrix had been told by the school that their relationship was inappropriate, Sirius had gone to great lengths to set his best friend up with the girl he loved – and that when Bellatrix inherited her betrothal, James and his family had cowered against her family's influence and dumped her sister. She had still been in contact with Lily who, at the time, slammed James for treating Bellatrix as a luxury that he could do without. Well, love is a very powerful motivator; I don't blame Sirius for resenting his former best friend.

In Christmas of 1981, the wizarding world was celebrating its first Christmas after the downfall of the Dark Lord. But Andromeda was in her room again. She forgot to set up wards in the room; this was the first and only time I could hear her sobs. Her younger sister Bellatrix had gotten mixed up with Death Eaters and was being sentenced to Azkaban shortly. I remember feeling that Sirius really did do the right thing in betraying James to the Dark Lord. If James had had more backbone, his darling Bellatrix may not have fallen in with the wrong crowd. But if it happened that way, then the Dark Lord wouldn't have been defeated by Harry Potter.

I think it was around this time that Narcissa quit the Wizengamot in protest. She had been on a fast-track career path, but I'd heard she was suspended for wanting to give her cousin a fair trial. Another pureblood wizard had been kicked off the Wizengamot entirely for the same reason; I guess the House of Greengrass isn't as influential as the House of Black or Malfoy. But seeing her baby sister being tried was probably the last straw for her. After that, Narcissa mostly worked from home. I think she aimed to be a better parent to her son than her parents were to her. She kept busy, of course; she wrote a very well-received book on magical law, but otherwise stayed out of the limelight.

Around this time, my wife began meeting with Narcissa again. Occasionally, she would disappear for weeks without notice and she would return somewhat clammy. But our quality of life improved. Andromeda must still have her own Gringotts account because I wasn't seeing any great windfalls in my books.

Last year, my mother passed away. Andromeda and I did our best to make her last year comfortable, but there was nothing to be done about the malignant brain tumours. My father pulled me aside at the memorial service and thanked me for putting my mother above myself, but he added, "Wish Dora looked more like you, eh?"

Nymphadora fidgets in my lap. "When's Mummy going to be ready?"

I don't know.

My young adult life has really passed in a flash. Next year, Nymphadora would start at Hogwarts, and perhaps I will try to live my own life a little. I've always wanted to learn how to ski. Maybe I'll go see the Great Wall of China. Or maybe use a little bit of magical prodding to get a meeting with Farrah Fawcett – nothing inappropriate, I'd just politely request an autograph.

I hear sluggish footsteps. Andromeda must be finished moping about how her own life changed so drastically when she was ten.

"Mummy!" Nymphadora runs to her mother and wraps her arm around her waist.

Andromeda gives her a tight embrace, although I can see that it does not extend to her face. "Are you ready to cut the cake?" She asks gently.

"Yeah!" Her lilac hair brightens even more.

A small circular white cake with strawberry mousse filling sits on the table. Andromeda had been vehemently against Nymphadora's first choice of chocolate, though if you ask me, my wife really needed some. I grab a knife from the drawer without meeting Andromeda's eyes – she would probably scold me for failing to identify the cake knife correctly.

I cut three slices of cake and make sure to give the one with the largest glazed strawberry to Nymphadora.

We sat there in silence eating the birthday cake – me, my pureblood wife, and her purer-blood daughter whom I love as my own.

_FIN_

A/N: I picked Ted Tonks because I think he has the right to have a perspective too. As I mentioned, inserting first-person narrative into somewhat omniscient unlimited of OiSM would rather interrupt the flow. Even if I changed it into third-person, it wouldn't fit anywhere. Anyway, I see Ted Tonks as a capable wizard, but one who inadvertently became nothing more than a pawn in the game of life. He has a lot less positive things to say about Andromeda's family, and less understanding of what you would see going on in OiSM and how those things shape the Black family. However, what he does see should not be disregarded.


End file.
